This invention is directed to buffering video on media recorders. Media recorders may buffer received video in a playback control buffer (also known as a live-off-disk buffer or trick-play buffer) for the purposes, among others, of enabling a user to pause, rewind, and fast forward videos (trick-play functions) in real-time during viewing. For various reasons, the storage capacity of a playback control buffer (hereinafter referred to simply as a buffer) may be relatively small when compared to the overall storage capacity of the media recorder. If video is played or paused long enough, the buffer will eventually become full resulting in a less than optimal user experience. For example, in the circumstance where the buffer becomes full while a video program is playing, a user may lose the ability to rewind to the beginning of the program (e.g., if the program is longer than the buffer length at the given bitrate of the program). In the circumstance where a buffer becomes full when video is paused by a user, a control application (e.g., an interactive media guidance application) may automatically unpause the video and begin playing the buffered video from the point at which it was paused. In either case, the user receives a less-than-optimal user experience and may even miss some or all of the program he was viewing. Thus, there is a need in the art for a solution which enables a user to play or pause a video for an amount of time that is more in line with the amount of storage space on his system (rather than for an arbitrary amount of time), without necessarily increasing the size of the buffer.